PREFACE

THE following work has been prepared by
authority of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree, for the Southern
Jurisdiction of the United States, by the Grand Commander, and is now
published by its direction. It contains the Lectures of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite in that jurisdiction, and is specially intended to be
read and studied by the Brethren of that obedience, in connection with the
Rituals of the Degrees. It is hoped and expected that each will furnish
himself with a copy, and make himself familiar with it; for which purpose, as
the cost of the work consists entirely in the printing and binding, it will be
furnished at a price as moderate as possible. No individual will
receive pecuniary profit from it, except the agents for its sale.

It has been copyrighted, to prevent its
republication elsewhere, and the copyright, like those of all the other works
prepared for the Supreme Council, has been assigned to Trustees for that Body.
Whatever profits may accrue from it will be devoted to purposes of charity.

The Brethren of the Rite in the United States
and Canada will be afforded the opportunity to purchase it, nor is it
forbidden that other Masons shall; but they will not be solicited to do
so.

In preparing this work, the Grand Commander has
been about equally Author and Compiler; since he has extracted quite half its
contents from the works of the best writers and most philosophic or eloquent
thinkers. Perhaps it would have been better and more acceptable if he had
extracted more and written less.

the thoughts and words of others, he has
continually changed and added to the language, often intermingling, in the
same sentences, his own words with theirs. It not being intended for the world
at large, he has felt at liberty to make, from all accessible sources, a
Compendium of the Morals and Dogma of the Rite, to re-mould sentences, change
and add to words and phrases, combine them with his own, and use them as if
they were his own, to be dealt with at his pleasure and so availed of
as to make the whole most valuable for the purposes intended. He claims,
therefore, little of the merit of authorship, and has not cared to distinguish
his own from that which he has taken from other sources, being quite willing
that every portion of the book, in turn, may be regarded as borrowed from some
old and better writer.

The teachings of these Readings are not
sacramental, so far as they go beyond the realm of Morality into those of
other domains of Thought and Truth. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
uses the word "Dogma" in its true sense, of doctrine, or teaching;
and is not dogmatic in the odious sense of that term. Every one is
entirely free to reject and dissent from whatsoever herein may seem to him to
be untrue or unsound. It is only required of him that he shall weigh what is
taught, and give it fair hearing and unprejudiced judgment. Of course, the
ancient theosophic and philosophic speculations are not embodied as part of
the doctrines of the Rite; but because it is of interest and profit to
know what the Ancient Intellect thought upon these subjects, and because
nothing so conclusively proves the radical difference between our human and
the animal nature, as the capacity of the human mind to entertain such
speculations in regard to itself and the Deity. But as to these opinions
themselves, we may say, in the words of the learned Canonist, Ludovicus Gomez:
"Opiniones secundum varietatem temporum senescant et intermoriantur,
alięque diversę vel prioribus contrarię renascantur et deinde pubescant."

Titles of Degrees as herein given have in some
instances been changed. Correct titles are as follows:

1
°--Apprentice.
2°--Fellow-craft.
3 °--Master.
4°--Secret Master.
5°--Perfect Master.
6°--Intimate Secretary.
7°--Provost and Judge.
8°--Intendant of the Building.
9°--Elu of the Nine.
10°--Elu of the Fifteen.
11°--Elu of the Twelve.
12°--Master Architect.
13°--Royal Arch of Solomon.
14°--Perfect Elu.
15 °--Knight of the East.
16°--Prince of Jerusalem.
17°--Knight of the East and West.
18°--Knight Rose Croix.
19°--Pontiff.
20°--Master of the Symbolic Lodge.
21°--Noachite or Prussian Knight.
22°--Knight of the Royal Axe or Prince of Libanus.
23°--Chief of the Tabernacle.
24°--Prince of the Tabernacle.
25 °--Knight of the Brazen Serpent.
26°--Prince of Mercy.
27°--Knight Commander of the Temple.
28°--Knight of the Sun or Prince Adept.
29°--Scottish Knight of St. Andrew.
30°--Knight Kadosh.
31°--Inspector Inquisitor.
32°--Master of the Royal Secret.